Positive Relationships: Working with Parents - A point of view

With the increasing focus on 'working with parents' under the revised Early Years Foundation Stage, the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) and the University of Oxford teamed up to explore parental engagement in day nurseries.

Through our study, we aimed to help the frontline of the nursery sector to engage in new ways with busy working parents by identifying barriers, solutions and good practice. To shed light on current challenges, we deliberately chose a diverse sample of nurseries, and what has emerged are findings that challenge current thinking about the 'typical' parent.

Research has shown that engaging parents in their children's learning at home at an early stage leads to more positive engagement in learning at school (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003; Sylva et al, 2010). Children with a rich home learning environment are already ahead in their social and intellectual development at the age of three (Sylva et al, 2004) and at age five (Sammons et al, 2007). However, unsurprisingly, the degree of parents' involvement varies, in particular according to social economic status, poverty, education, health, parental perception of their role and levels of parental confidence (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003).